Alyssa Healy has delivered brilliant back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the last four of the World Cup, motivating them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off hosts India at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under the captain's leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since data was first taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clean catch off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and another's not out 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
